BANG.
The shot rang out like a scream through the thunder. Deafening. Final. It ripped through the air and into my bones.
I stumbled back. My scream was silent—caught somewhere deep in my chest—because even as my brain tried to make sense of what just happened, the world tilted sideways.
Blood.
It splattered across the marble floor like red petals falling from a crushed rose. For a moment, I thought it was mine.
But it wasn’t.
It was Dimitri’s.
He stood in front of me, staggering as if the world had gone soft beneath his feet. And then he fell. Crashed to his knees. A crimson patch bloomed through his side like an ugly flower.
“No!” I screamed, collapsing beside him. “Dimitri—no, no, no, no—”
His hand reached for mine, cold and trembling.
“Just…a graze…” he murmured through clenc
